Action for Public Transport (N.S.W.) Inc.

Under current planning by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART), fare increases for 2012 will be as follows:

1. For trains, in accordance with the four-year pricing path (2009-12) approved in December 2008;
2. For buses, in accordance with the four-year pricing path (2010-13) approved in December 2009;
3. For Sydney Ferries, in accordance with a fare review taking place now. These fares have been frozen since January 2007;
4. For private ferries, in accordance with a review completed in March 2011.

The government is free to introduce lesser fare rises, or none at all, but cannot impose larger ones than IPART has determined.

On 17th December 2010, the then Premier, Mrs Keneally, wrote to IPART giving notice of a request "to undertake new price path reviews for rail, bus and ferry fares" with the results to come into effect from January 2012. Pending these reviews, the previous government deferred price rises that were due to come into effect in January 2011.

This letter is reproduced on pages 45 and 46 of the IPART document titled: "CityRail and Metropolitan and Outer Metropolitan Bus Services: Prices and Service Report 2010", issued in December 2010. This report can be viewed on the IPART web site.

Because no firm instructions or Terms of Reference were ever given to IPART before the change of government in March 2011, no such review has been started or scheduled.

APT had congratulated the previous government on the introduction of the MyZone system in April 2010. We observed that it required some fine-tuning, but expected this to happen in subsequent reviews. Our comments at the time can be seen on the APT web site. We also congratulated the new government on extending MyZone to include light rail in June 2011.

However, the proposed review of the effect of MyZone should be resurrected and begun as soon as possible, so that determinations can be put into effect by January 2012.

A review conducted now, and implemented for 2012, would give transit users some assurance that the fare determination process is methodical and integrated, rather than the haphazard increases (or freezes) effected over recent years. Passengers would also see that a connection exists between the MyZone fare structure and the actual fare increases.

Passengers could also be gently conditioned for the likely change to fares policy that will be required for the e-ticket in late 2012.

APT would also welcome the opportunity to raise in the forum of a public review our other concerns about MyZone, tickets, and fares in general.

The government should provide Terms of Reference and instructions to IPART to complete such a review in time for implementation in January 2012.